ANGELA Merkel appears stuck in Groundhog Day as she desperately tried to strike a coalition deal, to not only save Germany, but apparently the European Union too.

Martin Schulz, who leads the SPD party which is being coerced into a deal with Angela Merkel’s CDU, was unabashed as he explained how powerful and persuasive Germany is in Brussels.

Describing what he believed was at stake ahead of the coalition talks today, he said: "On the day when the US president is due in Davos, where he will underline once again that the US is taking a new direction, ... and given the challenges from China and the US, the EU needs a strong, pro-European Germany.”

Germany is still waiting for a new government, four months on from the September 2017 election, and both Mrs Merkel and SPD leader Martin Schulz have stressed the importance of stabilising the domestic political situation.

Speaking during the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland, Mrs Merkel said: "We will focus on negotiating rapidly. People expect us to move towards forming a government and that's why I'm very optimistic and very determined in these discussions that we reach a result and I believe that is achievable in a relatively manageable timeframe.”

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German Chancellor Angela Merkel is trying to form another coalition government

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In what feels like unrelenting uncertainty in the German government, Mrs Merkel had been previously been sweating while the SPD decide whether to press ahead formal negotiations with her conservative alliance aimed at reviving the so-called Grand Coalition.

On Sunday SPD members narrowly agreed to continue talks.

Nevertheless, it appears the hard work is just beginning, and dissenting voices within the SPD have voice their doubts about working alongside Mrs Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union party and its allies, the Christian Social Union (CSU), as they did between 2013 and the general election of 2017.

Analysts within the country are beginning to question how long the situation can drag on, with no guarantees that talks between the three parties will yield the result she is hoping for.

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SPD leader Martin Schulz is backing the proposals – but plenty in his party are not

Die Zeit newspaper commented: "Each additional day where she has to content herself with being just a caretaker chancellor weakens her, and the longer the negotiations go on, the more the population's discontent grows.”

Mrs Merkel will be all the more desperate to strike a suitable agreement given that her situation contrasts dramatically with that of Emmanuel Macron, who is currently on the crest of a wave following his election as French President last year.

German newspaper Spiegel said: "Merkel's position could be further weakened on the international stage – at least that's the impression given at Davos.

"Macron meanwhile is increasingly taking on the role of the leader of the Europeans."

During the course of the meeting, Mrs Merkel herself appeared to acknowledge the way she was being hampered by her domestic problems, remarking "how things have changed in four months, at how the world is developing quickly and that a country that wants to contribute to shaping globalisation needs to be able to act 24 hours a day”.

Meanwhile, the coalition talks could still be scuppered by a referendum being held among the SPD’s 440,000-strong membership, with the party’s youth wing actively campaigning against its own party leader Martin Schulz.

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Above all, Mrs Merkel will be keen to avoid a snap poll following last year’s general election which saw the CDU/CSU alliance lose 65 seats, with its share of the vote falling by almost 9 per cent to 32.9 per cent.

Polls this week showed few reasons for optimism for either the CDU/CSU or the SPD, with Mrs Merkel's alliance apparently falling still further to 31.5 percent, and the SPD plunging to a record low of 18 per cent.

Chief beneficiary has been the far right AfD party, which picked up 12.6 per cent of the vote in 2017, winning 94 seats to make it the third-biggest party in the German Bundestag.